10/11/2006

The obsessive energy of one man, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov -- former car dealer, present-day multimillionaire, Buddhist impresario and president of the republic of Kalmykia -- has turned this remote corner of southern Russia into the Caesars Palace of chess.

The clock is ticking for the Red October chocolate factory: Its city center premises are in an area due for redevelopment into a glossy residential and leisure zone, and the chocolatier, along with its popular tours, is to move elsewhere.

About 35 banks registered in the Moscow region are ""problematic"" and under close watch, a senior Central Bank official said Tuesday, one month after the assassination of chief banking supervisor Andrei Kozlov.